Abortion

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, Anne Milton, on 2 November (Official Report, Commons, col. 900), when the Government commissioned a systematic review of the mental health consequences of induced abortion; who was appointed to the review; what relevant specialist qualifications each member of the review panel holds; and whether they will make it their policy to include persons in the review who have a wide knowledge or experience in the fields of (a) law, (b) social work, (c) philosophy, (d) religion, and (e) medicine or science.

Earl Howe: The review was commissioned in January 2010 and is being led by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Information on membership of the review team is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Dr Roch Cantwell Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist, Royal College of Psychiatrists 
			 Dr Ian Jones Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist, Royal College of Psychiatrists 
			 Dr Tahir Mahmood Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 
			 Dr Judy Shakespeare General Practitioner 
			 Professor Tim Kendall Director of National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, Consultant Psychiatrist and Medical Director, Sheffield Health and Social Care Trust 
		
	
	A group comprising systematic reviewers, an information scientist, a project manager and the Department of Health policy lead is supporting the review team. The review will be sent out for consultation, prior to publication, to a selected group of experts in the field, including the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Physicians, statutory organisations and expert published researchers.

Armed Forces: Aircraft

Lord Moonie: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have signed a contract with Lockheed Martin to incorporate a shipborne rolling vertical landing capability for F-35B aircraft on United Kingdom aircraft carriers; if so, what is the value of the contract; and what are the penalty clauses in the light of the decision to move to the F-35C variant.

Lord Astor of Hever: The development of a shipborne rolling vertical landing capability (SRVL) for the short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) variant of Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a minor element of work that is part of a broader contract which will ensure that JSF capability is fully integrated with the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers to form the UK carrier strike capability. We are in the process of negotiation with the US Government to amend this contract in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review decision to switch to the carrier variant of JSF but there are no anticipated penalty clauses or charges for making the required changes. While the UK will no longer require the small amount of SRVL completed to date, the data produced will continue to be of benefit to the JSF programme as a whole in which the UK is the only level one partner.

Arts Council

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have held with the Arts Council to ascertain the viability of making cuts of 50 per cent to its administrative budget; and what they forecast the effect on United Kingdom arts output will be.

Baroness Rawlings: As part of the Spending Review, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will be reducing its own administrative budget by 50 per cent and has asked a number of its arm's-length bodies to do the same. At a difficult time, Ministers' aim has been to ensure that the maximum amount of funding is spent at the front line, rather than on bureaucracy. Ministers had regular discussions with those arm's-length bodies during the Spending Review and those discussions continue. We are confident that in cutting administration in order to limit cuts to the front line, arts organisations across the country will continue to thrive.

Arts: Funding

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of substitute funding for the arts which could be generated by philanthropic donations; and whether they have plans to establish targets for increasing income from those sources over the next three years.

Baroness Rawlings: The Government believe that there is considerable scope to increase philanthropic donations to the arts, which already constitute a significant proportion of the £655 million of private sector support received by the UK culture sector in 2008-09. Given a donor base of tens of thousands of individuals and the broad range of factors beyond government policy that affect giving behaviour, we do not propose to establish targets in this area. Rather, we will introduce a range of measures to encourage charitable giving. Further details will be published later in the year.

BBC

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on programme quality and output of the decision to increase the BBC's spending requirements whilst freezing the licence fee.

Baroness Rawlings: The Government have made no assessment. Under the terms of the BBC agreement, the content of the BBC's UK public services taken as a whole must be high quality. It is the responsibility of the BBC Trust to hold the BBC to account for meeting its obligations under the agreement.

Biodiversity

The Duke of Montrose: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they gave any undertakings at the biodiversity conference in Nagoya; and what new actions they propose to take.

Lord Henley: At the Tenth Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, the UK played a pivotal role in securing agreement on an ambitious new framework to halt biodiversity loss. The challenge now is to translate agreements from Nagoya into our national biodiversity strategy and other relevant government strategies and policies. Among the main vehicles for doing this are the natural environment White Paper and the new England Biodiversity Strategy, which will both be published in the spring
	In addition, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced commitments including a new fund to deliver biodiversity benefits through international forestry, funding for the proposed intergovernmental science-policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES) and support for key projects on the economic value of nature, building on the landmark The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report, which was published in Nagoya.

China: Human Rights

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Prime Minister will raise the issue of human rights when he meets the President of China later this week.

Lord Howell of Guildford: During his recent visit to China, my right honourable friend the Prime Minister had wide ranging discussions with both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, including on the issue of human rights. We will continue our engagement with China on this issue, including at our next UK/China human rights dialogue.

Civil Service: Redundancy

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 2 November (WA 224), what would be the estimated average cost of a civil servant's redundancy payment if it were to represent (a) 12 months', (b) 15 months' or (c) 21 months' pay; and what is the overall estimated cost of adding six months' salary to such payments in the next three years.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The median civil service salary is £22,100. Therefore the estimated average cost of a civil servant's redundancy payment if it were to represent (a) 12 months', (b) 15 months' or (c) 21 months' pay is:
	
		
			 a) £22,100 
			 b) £27,625 
			 c) £38,765 
		
	
	Adding six months' salary to such payments would add a further £11,050 in each case. The Government have made no estimate of future average civil servant salaries.

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the design of buildings and public spaces of the decision to withdraw funding from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

Baroness Rawlings: Given the proposed major reform of the planning system, we are considering measures that the Government can take to promote high standards of design in the built environment in future, especially at a local level.

Crime: Rape

Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of rape as a weapon in areas of conflict; and what action they are pursuing to ensure the elimination of the practice.

Lord Howell of Guildford: The Government condemn all forms of violence against women and abhor the use of sexual and gender-based violence in conflict. Assessments from the UN and non-governmental organisations groups highlight the widespread use of sexual violence in conflict situations. We are supporting the development of UN indicators to provide more reliable information. Fuller details of the Government's work to combat sexual violence in conflict will be set out in our National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which will be released later this month. We intend to lay a copy of this plan before Parliament.

Environment: Natural Environment

Lord Dykes: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will include, in the new White Paper on the Natural Environment, plans for formal surveys by local bodies on land parcels currently suffering significant neglect.

Lord Henley: The public consultation for the natural environment White Paper closed on 30 October 2010. A report summarising the responses received will be published in December 2010, and the final natural environment White Paper will be published in spring 2011. The Government would not want to pre-empt the findings of the consultation or the content of the final White Paper.

Environment: Natural Environment

Lord Dykes: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their White Paper on the natural environment.

Lord Henley: The Government have committed to publishing the natural environment White Paper in spring 2011.

EU: Environmental Rules

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware of any proposals from the European Commission to set up a European agency to enforce EU environmental rules on member states; and, if so, what is their assessment of them.

Lord Henley: There are no formal proposals for such an agency. The European Commission's 2011 work programme, published on 27 October, includes a planned non-legislative communication to address shortcomings in implementing environmental legislation and propose a strategic way forward. The Government support proper implementation of environmental legislation, and will consider the communication carefully when it is published. In examining any proposals, we will wish to ensure the best possible value for money in the use of EU resources, and the strict observance of the proper roles of the European institutions and of the member states.

Fluoridation

Earl Baldwin of Bewdley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 23 June (WA 187-8) on the "York" report should have referred to "bone fracture" instead of "bone cancer".

Earl Howe: In my earlier reply I agreed that a more accurate representation of the findings of the systematic review of water fluoridation undertaken by the University of York was to refer to "no clear association" rather than merely "no association". In fact, the York report found no clear association between water fluoridation and both bone cancer and hip fracture, but I appreciate that the noble Earl's question was about fractures.

Food Standards Agency

Lord Dykes: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many staff reductions will be incurred as a result of their proposals to change the role of the Food Standards Agency as an independent regulator of food safety.

Earl Howe: Following the Government's review of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), responsibility for nutrition policy was transferred to the Department of Health (DH) in England and the Welsh Assembly Government in Wales. Responsibility for food labelling (other than where related to nutrition or food safety) and compositional standards in England was transferred to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). These transfers involved 112 posts transferring from the FSA to DH and DEFRA. Since those moves, the Government have confirmed that the FSA will be retained and will have a renewed focus on food safety and enforcement. There is no proposal to change the role of the FSA as an independent regulator of food safety.

Food: Aspartame

Lord Clement-Jones: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the Food Standards Agency study into consumer concerns regarding aspartame has cost to date; what the total cost of the study will be; how they account for any changes in anticipated costs; and on what basis the Agency concluded that the study offered value for money.

Earl Howe: To date, £193,763 has been spent on this work and in total the project will cost the Food Standards Agency £287,693 (in addition to £35,000 to develop an appropriate cereal bar).
	The study was originally costed at £150,728. Following consultation of the European Food Safety Authority's national experts on aspartame, it was agreed that to maximise its usefulness the research should also investigate aspartame metabolism by analysing samples taken from the participants. This extension will result in an additional cost of £136,965.

Food: Pork and Bacon

Lord Hoyle: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 9 November (WA 54-5), why the Department for Work and Pensions purchases no British bacon.

Lord Freud: The department does not procure food directly but has a PFI contract for the provision of fully serviced accommodation that includes catering. The contract is with Telereal Trillium whose catering services supplier is Eurest (part of the Compass Group UK and Ireland). Eurest does supply British produce where it is economically viable to do so. The Written Answer by Lord Henley referred to in the Question shows that 85 per cent of pork is procured from UK sources. British bacon is not procured by the supplier for use on its contract with the department, with price being the determining factor. While British products are encouraged, canteen customers are cost-conscious and the supplier's focus is on keeping prices at the point of sale as low as possible. Eurest recently trialled the use of British bacon, which attracted a price premium at some of the department's sites through a "Best of British Bacon" promotion, but sales were negligible.

Government Departments: Salaries

Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated net saving in the pay bill of the Department for Education for each of the next four years if no bonuses are paid and all salaries and increments are frozen.

Lord Hill of Oareford: Following the Spending Review settlement for the Department for Education, detailed workforce plans and pay bill allocations, on which such estimates would be based, are being developed and finalised. We are therefore currently unable to provide estimates of savings for the years in question.

Government Departments: Staff

Lord Bassam of Brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many staff have been employed on temporary or short-term contracts since 12 May to support the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport; what are the names of those employed; at what grade and what level of remuneration they were employed; and what selection criteria were used to determine their suitability for the post.

Baroness Rawlings: Since 12 May 2010, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has appointed one official on a fixed-term contract to support the Secretary of State. The post is at Grade C (Civil Service equivalent - E0) and the pay range for that grade is £23,197 to £25,592. The name of the individual and their exact salary are personal data and cannot be disclosed.
	The job holder was appointed specifically for this role. This is a temporary appointment which was not advertised. The Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment Principles provide for departments to be able to recruit individuals, without advertising, for short-term appointments of up to two years to meet short-term need. These principles are incorporated into departmental policies. The freeze on civil service recruitment is in respect of permanent employees.

Government Departments: Staff

Lord Bassam of Brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many staff have been employed on temporary or short-term contracts since 12 May to support the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; what are the names of those employed; at what grade and what level of remuneration they were employed; and what selection criteria were used to determine their suitability for the post.

Lord Henley: There have been no staff employed on temporary or short-term contracts since 12 May to support the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Government Departments: Staff

Lord Bassam of Brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many staff are employed in the Behavioural Insight Team in the Cabinet Office; what are their terms of reference; to whom they report; to whom they are accountable; and when they are expected to complete their work programme.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Behavioural Insights Team has seven full-time staff. Their terms of reference are to develop more cost-effective and less bureaucratic ways of changing behaviour in ways that give citizens and communities greater control of their own lives. They will achieve this in three ways. First, by proactively developing ideas for achieving behavioural change using less bureaucratic methods across a wide range of government policy and activity. In this mode the team will actively seek out areas where behavioural science applications could be usefully applied. Secondly, by pursuing non-bureaucratic and non-coercive alternatives to regulation. And thirdly, by creating and facilitating alliances and partnerships between government, business, media and the third sector to deliver and activate the ideas developed above. The team reports through senior management to the Cabinet Office's Efficiency and Reform Group, and is accountable to a steering group chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. It has a two-year sunset clause (beginning July 2010), with a checkpoint review in July 2011.

Higher Education: Funding

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the statement in The Coalition: our programme for government that "public funding should be fair and follow the choices of students" refers to education and training provided to 16 to 19 year-olds.

Lord Hill of Oareford: The statement in The Coalition: our programme for governmentthat "public funding should be fair and follow the choices of students" does refer to 16-19 education and training. We are explicit that funding should, and will, follow the choices made by the young person. This is why we announced at the end of July this year that, from the 2011-12 academic year, funding allocations will be based on the equivalent of lagged pupil numbers (i.e. funding allocations will be based on actual numbers recruited in the previous academic year). One of the key benefits and major reasons for moving to such a system is that it will support growth in educational institutions, as all the recruitment achieved in the previous academic year, reflecting student choice, will be recognised and funded.
	We are also committed to fair funding. To live within the Spending Review settlement, schools and colleges will have to make challenging but achievable efficiency savings. There is scope for savings from back-office costs and by bringing all providers to the level of the most efficient. We aim to announce before Christmas the details of the 16-19 settlement and any changes to funding policy that will help deliver the efficiencies that we need.

Higher Education: Funding

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to fund to education and training for 16 to 19 year-olds who study in (a) schools, (b) academies, (c) further education colleges, and (d) sixth-form colleges at the same level, in light of the report produced by KPMG, The Funding Gap-A project to assess the progress made in reducing the Funding Gap between School Sixth Forms and FE Colleges.

Lord Hill of Oareford: For 16-19 learning, the Spending Review will support further increases in participation to enable us to move towards raising the participation age (RPA) to 18 by 2015. In the context of RPA, there will be unit cost reductions in the 16-19 participation budget. To live within this settlement, schools and colleges will have to make challenging but achievable efficiency savings. There is scope for savings from back-office costs and by bringing all providers to the level of the most efficient. We aim to announce before Christmas the details of the 16-19 settlement and any changes to funding policy that will help deliver the efficiencies we need before Christmas.

Higher Education: Grants

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to consider a further increase in the maintenance grants for undergraduate students.

Baroness Wilcox: The Minister of State for Universities and Science recently announced that, subject to Parliamentary approval, the amount of maintenance grant will increase from £2,906 to £3,250 from September 2012.

Higher Education: Tuition Fees

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that students from poorer backgrounds are not discouraged from attending higher education institutions because of rising tuition fees.

Baroness Wilcox: The Government have set out plans to reform higher education student finance that will offer a more generous package of financial support for low income students wishing to attend university in 2012-13. No full-time student will need to contribute to their tuition costs up-front, and students from families with incomes of £25,000 or less will be entitled to a more generous full maintenance grant of £3,250 a year. Students starting part-time courses in 2012-13 will be entitled to an up-front loan to meet their tuition costs so long as they are studying at an intensity of at least 33 per cent of a full-time course.
	Universities or colleges wishing to charge students more than £6,000 a year, up to a ceiling of £9,000, will be expected to draw up an access agreement with the Office for Fair Access in order to widen participation in higher education. In addition, a new £150 million National Scholarships programme will guarantee bright potential students from poor backgrounds extra grant to help them meet the costs of going to university.
	The Government are also introducing a more progressive repayment structure. Students will only be expected to contribute when they have completed their learning and are earning over £21,000. Repayments will be 9 per cent of income above £21,000 and all outstanding repayments will be written off after 30 years. The result will be that around a quarter of graduates on the lowest incomes will pay less than they do at present.

Housing Benefit

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the increased expenditures on homelessness, bed and breakfast accommodation and child care as a result of reducing housing and other benefits.

Lord Freud: The department has been working with other departments and the devolved Administrations to assess the economic impacts of the changes that we are making to local housing allowance rates in 2011. The impact assessment will be published alongside the regulations.

Israel and Palestine

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the behaviour by Israeli settlers towards Palestinians, particularly in light of the setting fire to a school in As-Sawiya on 20 October.

Lord Howell of Guildford: We are concerned by this attack reportedly by Israeli settlers and condemn all such acts of violence. We call on all parties to refrain from acts of provocation.

Legal Aid

Lord Vinson: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Mr Phil Shiner is in receipt of Government funds through legal aid or any other means.

Lord McNally: Mr Phil Shiner is a member of Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), a law firm that has a contract with the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to provide publicly funded legal services under the civil legal aid scheme, and, as such, PIL receives legal aid funding from the LSC. However, as the contract is between the LSC and PIL, it is not possible to determine whether or not Mr Shiner receives any of the amounts paid under the contract. It is not possible to identify all other sources of public funding Mr Shiner might have received.

Lisbon Treaty

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of proposals for limited changes to the Lisbon treaty; whether they will submit proposals for changes; and in what circumstances such changes would trigger a United Kingdom referendum.

Lord Howell of Guildford: At the October European Council, heads of state or Government invited the president of the European Council to undertake consultations with the members of the European Council on a limited treaty change to establish a permanent crisis resolution mechanism to safeguard the financial stability of the euro area. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister established that any such treaty change, should it occur, would not affect the UK.
	Under the terms of the EU Bill, which was introduced into Parliament on 11 November, any future treaty change that transfers competence or power from the UK to the EU would trigger a referendum. Since we have already secured agreement that treaty change related to a permanent crisis resolution mechanism for the euro area would not affect the UK, a referendum would not apply in this case.

Lord's Resistance Army

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to use their presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month to promote debate about an effective strategy to deal with the Lord's Resistance Army and to apprehend its leaders.

Lord Howell of Guildford: We are focusing our presidency of the UN Security Council on Sudan. In particular, we would like to make progress towards a peaceful and credible referendum in January 2011 and to address the political, humanitarian and security situation in Darfur. The Security Council regularly discusses the problem of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) during its consultations on Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.
	We remain committed to addressing the problem of the LRA and we are considering how best to complement ongoing international and regional efforts to end the LRA's campaign of atrocities. These efforts include both the newly established international working group on the LRA (of which the UK is a member) and the welcome leadership on the LRA from the African Union, which is working to develop a more comprehensive strategy to tackle the issues surrounding the LRA. We also look forward to the forthcoming publication of a strategy by the United States to tackle the LRA.

National School Olympics

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the National School Olympics.

Baroness Garden of Frognal: We are committed to creating an exciting new Olympic and Paralympic-style schools competition harnessing the power of the London 2012 Games to inspire a generation of young people to get involved in competitive sport. The competition will be a series of events culminating in an annual national event, the first of which will take place in the Olympic Park in 2012. Sport England has already confirmed the provision of up to £35.5 million from now to March 2015 towards the competition.

Olympic Games 2012

Lord Sheikh: To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidelines they will provide for event stewards ahead of the London 2012 Olympics.

Baroness Garden of Frognal: The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is responsible for delivering the venue safety and security responsibilities of an event organiser, in accordance with current UK legislation and the Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) "Green Guide"-the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds. For events not organised by LOCOG, all local authorities are required to follow guidelines on event stewarding as set out in the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) "Purple Guide" for event safety.
	The Home Office, DCMS, HSE and local licensing authorities are working closely to ensure that event organisers are complying with the relevant legislation set for planning and delivering public events related to London 2012.
	LOCOG is responsible for the volunteering programme for the Games, including stewarding roles. LOCOG is recruiting up to 70,000 "Games Makers", each of whom will attend at least three days of training, including learning about the details of their role and seeing their Games-time venue.
	LOCOG, the Home Office and education providers have also launched Bridging the Gap, an initiative to provide skilled security personnel for the London 2012 Games by training young people in stewarding, event management and security guarding with a recognised qualification and opportunities to work within the Games.

Public Expenditure

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Jones on 4 November (WA 446), what consideration was given to the equalities impact of public expenditure reductions; and what mitigating actions were considered.

Baroness Verma: In carrying out their functions, all government departments must have due regard to the matters specified in Section 71 of the Race Relations Act 1976, Section 49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Section 76A of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. Throughout the Spending Review process, the Treasury looked closely at the impacts that decisions may have on different groups. The Treasury published the document Overview of Equalities Impacts of the Spending Review on 20 October alongside the announcement. This document outlines in more detail the approach taken to assessing the impact of the Spending Review on different groups.
	However, the role of the Treasury at the Spending Review is to allocate resources between departments. It is for departments to consider the equalities impacts as they develop their policies in line with their Spending Review settlements. Ministers will therefore consider equalities impacts and whether mitigation options are appropriate and compatible with their policy aims as they make the decisions necessary to live within their Spending Review settlements. For example, people claiming disability living allowance are exempt from the household cap on income from benefits; this is a mitigating action to limit the effect of the policy on disabled people.

Schools: Teachers' Pay

Lord Graham of Edmonton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to review or alter the documents entitled School Teachers' Pay and Conditions and Guidance on School Teachers' Pay and Conditions.

Lord Hill of Oareford: New versions of the school teachers' pay and conditions document (STPCD) and associated guidance on school teachers' pay and conditions are published annually to take effect from the start of the academic year on 1 September. The current version is dated 2010. Changes to the STPCD are made following recommendations from the independent School Teachers' Review Body (STRB). The Secretary of State issued a remit letter to the STRB on 27 October. It covers two matters, requiring a report by 28 February 2011 on the pay uplift for those earning £21,000 or less; and a report by 30 March on whether there should be a cap on head teachers' pay in line with the Prime Minister's salary. The remit letter also flagged the Secretary of State's intention to return to the STRB early next year to look at the introduction of greater freedoms and flexibilities to the teachers' pay system, as part of the coalition Government's commitment to give schools greater freedoms to pay good teachers more.

Spending Review 2010

Lord Touhig: To ask Her Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the impact of the Spending Review 2010 on the number of disabled people living below the poverty line.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Sassoon on 20 October (HL Deb, col. 858), what impact they expect protecting the NHS budget will have on the number of disabled persons who live below the poverty line.

Lord Sassoon: The Government are committed to reducing the deficit in a way that is fair and provides the appropriate support to those who need it most. The measures of poverty currently used by the Government are largely income-based. It is not possible to provide a robust estimate of the impact of changes in public service spending on individuals' incomes, including those of disabled people. It is therefore not possible to measure accurately the impact of departmental spending on relative income poverty. Some of the methodological issues are discussed in Annex B of the Spending Review 2010 document.

Tourism

Lord Howarth of Newport: To ask Her Majesty's Government what level of tourism marketing funding will be available to (a) VisitBritain, (b) VisitEngland, (c) local authorities and (d) destination management organisations; and, in each case, how this compares with the equivalent funding that had been planned prior to the announcement of Spending Review 2010.

Baroness Garden of Frognal: There were no previous decisions made about public funding for tourism covering the financial years 2011-12 to 2014-15, prior to the Spending Review 2010.
	The funding settlement for VisitBritain, announced on 20 October, includes nearly £50 million exclusively for marketing over the next four years. We are challenging industry to match that to create a £100 million marketing fund to generate a sustainable legacy from the 2012 Games.
	VisitEngland's budget for 2011-12 to 2014-15 of £32.9 million will be for supporting and investing in destination management organisations and the local businesses and local authorities involved in tourism.
	Local authority investment in tourism is a discretionary matter for them and their level of planned spend is not yet known.

Universal Credit System

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the new universal credit system on those unable to find work.

Lord Freud: Universal credit aims to make sure that work always pays and is seen to pay. In return, people can reasonably be expected to look for and prepare for work. Improving the incentives to take up mini-jobs will particularly help those who are not able to take up full-time employment and otherwise would remain fully dependent on welfare. Promoting a culture of employment will not only help those individuals but will also tackle the intergenerational cycles of worklessness and welfare dependency. We will require every claimant to sign a claimant commitment as a condition of entitlement, setting out clearly the work-related expectations and requirements placed upon them and the consequences for failing to meet these agreed standards. Financial support will remain unconditional for people who we do not expect to be able to work or prepare for work.